There will be five new faces joining the Boyertown School Board of Directors following the election in November.
Current terms expiring include Robert Haas of Region 1, Joseph Nichols of Region 1, John Crossley of Region 1, Ruth Dierolf of Region 2 and Gwen Semmens of Region 3. Six candidates are now competing for those seats.
Robert Caso and Paul Stengle are seeking to fill the two four-year term Region 1 seats.
According to Caso, he is a CPA and MBA and has been a CFO in the Pharmaceutical and Biotech industries for publicly and privately owned companies. He currently operates a consulting firm providing Finance and Leadership Development services to the Pharmaceutical industry. He has also served on the board of various small non-profit organizations.
When asked why he’s running, Caso says ‘To contribute to the community in which I live.’
If elected, he hopes to assist in building advocacy with the other directors and the administration in order to ‘address the critical resource and educational issues currently facing the Boyertown Area School District.’
Stengle is the Executive Director of The Arc Alliance, a non for profit that serves over 2,000 individuals with disability annually. For nine years he served on The State Interagency Coordinating Council for Early Intervention. He has served on committees for a number of nonprofit boards and is a past candidate for Earl Township Supervisor.
‘I am a fiscal conservative who wants to improve the education experience of children living in the Boyertown School District,’ said Stengle when asked why he’s running. ‘I want to have a significant impact on improve the quality of Special Education. No child should be left behind.’
If elected, he plans to use his expertise to work with administration, staff, family, students, and the school board to improve the education experience of Boyertown students.
Christine Neiman is running unopposed for the Region 1 two-year term.
Charles Martin Madonna and Jill Dennin will be competing for the Region 2 four-year term currently held by Dierolf.
Dennin is a community volunteer and former substitute teacher. She also serves on committees for the Boy Scouts, her church and school district, and serves on the YMCA Board of Directors.
She has worked for the Governor of Connecticut in the federal/state relations office in Washington DC where she researched legislative issues.
‘I want to ensure that the Boyertown Area School District continues to meet the evolving educational needs of our current and future students while being a desired community in which to raise a family,’ said Dennin in response as to why she’s running.
‘I feel my leadership skills and knowledge of the district (as a result of 18 years of volunteering on school and administrative committees and 7 years as a substitute teacher) will allow me to be an engaged board member who can listen, understand and discern the issues that may come before the board.’
If elected, Dennin says she will ‘strive to secure the best education for all students so they have the skills needed to become productive and successful individuals in this rapidly changing world.’
She says she will also seek to control spending and ensure the board remains fiscally responsible.’
Dennin’s opponent, Madonna, a former Boyertown graduate, is currently a Deputy Sheriff with Berks County Sheriff’s Department and a part time police officer with Laureldale Borough Police. He has previously served as police chief of Upper Pottsgrove Township, a part time police officer with Bally Borough and a part time police officer with Macungie Borough.
Maddona is running for School Board to ‘put our school dollars where they should be – in the classroom instead of into expensive building projects.’
Madonna says like unlike his opponent, he has dealt with budgets as part of his past employment. ‘I feel that I have the qualifications to make the best decisions for our taxpayers and, I oppose putting the district into debt for $124 million more dollars to do a fancy expansion of BASH high school that the population projections show isn’t needed (and guard against future efforts to possibly bulldoze the old high school).’
John Landino, running for Region 3, is employed as a Fulfillment Services Manager for a large financial services company.
While he has no prior political experience, he states that he is a regular attendee of school board meetings.
He is running to ‘ensure the current and future Boyertown students have the opportunity to learn and grow through a variety of educational opportunities that prepare them for college, technical school, military service, or for entering the workforce.’
‘We are in a challenging fiscal environment for school districts and taxpayers. I will work to ensure that the Boyertown Area School District is run as efficiently as possible so we can maintain our great educational programs and minimize tax increases,’ said Landino.
All candidates are running under Democratic and Republic parties with the exception of Madonna who has entered into the race as an independent party.
Neiman was unavailable for comment. The candidates are running in the general elections of public officials.
